The individual human soul, rightly seeing the glory of Christ and rightly savoring the glory of Christ, is at the heart of God’s purpose in creating the world. Until we grasp, in some measure, why that is the case, we will not be able to give an account for why the corporate reality of the worshiping church is essential to God’s purpose in creating the world.

So what I hope to do in this message is steer a biblical course between two errors. On the one side, I want us to avoid the error of thinking that the relationship between the individual worshiping human soul and God is in itself the ultimate purpose of God in creation. It’s not.

On the other side, I want us to avoid the error of being so captivated by the corporate reality of the worshiping people of God — the body of Christ, the temple of God, the bride of Christ — that we lose sight of the fact that the vital, ongoing, eternal intensity of the individual soul’s affection for God is absolutely essential to the very existence of the corporate reality of the worshiping church.

The New Testament forbids us to forget, neglect, or minimize the radical, essential, eternal significance of the individual worshiping human person. And the New Testament forbids that we forget, neglect, or minimize the coming into being of the blazingly beautiful bride of Christ who is more than the sum of her flaming parts, though not less.

Individual Soul and Glory

Let’s begin by focusing on the relationship between the individual soul and the ultimate purpose of God in creation. One of the clearest statements in the Bible of God’s ultimate purpose in creation is found in Isaiah 43:6–7:

Bring my sons from afar,     and my daughters from the end of the earth,everyone who is called by my name,     whom I created for my glory.

Or there’s Ephesians 1:11–12: “[He] works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we . . . might be to the praise of his glory.” And we have Romans 11:36: “From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

God created the world, he sustains the world, he governs the world, he is doing his saving work in the world, in order to display his glory — his greatness, his beauty, his worth, the whole panorama of his perfections. We see this all across Scripture:

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).
“The trees of the forest sing for joy” (Psalm 96:12).
“Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together” (Psalm 98:8).
“[The meadows and the valleys] shout and sing together for joy” (Psalm 65:13).
“Sing, O heavens . . . shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the Lord . . . will be glorified in Israel” (Isaiah 44:23).

The heavens, the mountains, the hills, the forests of trees, the rivers, and the meadows — they all were created to sing the glories of their Maker. And they do. And so does the most brilliant assembly of one hundred and fifty unbelieving singers gathered to perform Händel’s Messiah at Easter, surrounded by the most accomplished orchestra of unbelieving musicians. When they play with excellence and beautifully sing those magnificent biblical truths, all of it reflects the glory of God, like trees clapping their hands.

Why Worship Must Cherish

So if God gets so much glory from the external echoes of his excellencies in the things he has made — including unbelieving musicians and scientists and athletes — why is there any need for the individual human soul to have any particular affections for God? Isn’t God’s purpose to be glorified being achieved anyway?

“God does not intend to be half-glorified.”

No, it’s not. God does not intend to be half-glorified.

A king may be glorified for his great achievements and power and wisdom if he rules his kingdom with an iron hand and sees to it that great fortifications are built, and beautiful buildings and gardens are constructed, and citizens, under coercion, are forced to become excellent musicians and perform for him the finest pieces of musical art. This king may have a reputation for his power throughout the world.

But he is not so great nor so glorified as a king who is loved by his people — admired, revered, cherished, treasured, enjoyed, desired — so that out of that affection for their king, these happy subjects build even greater fortifications and buildings and gardens and musical compositions. A king is more glorified by a cherishing people than a cowering people. God does not intend to be half-glorified.

Not All Sound Is Worshipful Song

Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees, “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me’” (Matthew 15:7–9). Here you have an excellent use of lips: “You honor me with your lips. My honor, my glory, is sounding from your lips. I am being glorified by your mouth, just like I’m glorified by the mountains and trees and rivers that have no souls, and just like I am glorified by unbelieving choral ensembles that sing the ‘Hallelujah Chorus.’”

But Jesus still says that their heart, their soul — their individual human soul — is far from him. What does he mean? Jesus tells us in Matthew 15:9: “In vain do they worship me.” In vain. Meaning: “The external echo of my excellence is a zero when it comes to the essence of the kind of worship I created this world to give. A zero.”

Why? “I did not create the world to get magnificent nothings from the hearts of humans created in my image — whether they are singing the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ in unbelief or going through the motions of corporate worship in church on Sunday morning. That’s not why I created the world. I created the world not only for the echo of my excellence in the external wonders of the created world, including humans created in my image, but also for the echo of my excellence in the affections of my people.”

And where those affections are missing — where Jesus is not trusted and loved and cherished and treasured and desired — the words of God through Amos 5:23 will sound out over our worship services and choral performances:

Take away from me the noise of your songs;     to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

And it almost goes without saying (but it is so crucial I will say it) that these absolutely essential affections for God happen in the individual human soul — or the heart, as Jesus calls it Matthew 15:8. This is why the vital, ongoing, eternal intensity of the individual human person’s affection for God is absolutely essential for the fulfillment of God’s purpose in creating the world, namely, that he be not half-glorified (as by trees and unbelieving musicians), but glorified as he ought in the affections of the heart.

Gathered People and Glory

Now we turn to this question: If affections for God in the individual human soul are the essence of the self-glorifying purpose of God in creating the world, how do those heart-affections give rise to the corporate reality of the worshiping church? Because it is clear from the New Testament that God’s ultimate purpose is not millions of isolated, independent, human souls with white-hot affections for God, like great solos.

God is bringing into being a diverse, global church pictured as the body of Christ, the temple of God, the bride of Christ. Paul pictures the church as the wife of Jesus in Ephesians 5:27 and says that Christ’s purpose in coming and dying was “so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Christ means to have a beautiful wife. That’s not the same as saying he aims to have many individual worshipers. She is more than the sum of her parts, though not less.

This conference is devoted to blessing churches understood as local expressions of that emerging, global, everlasting, corporate, worshiping reality called the bride of Christ. What local churches do in their gathered worshiping assemblies is rehearse for that eternal vocation of corporate worship by the bride of Christ.

To God and One Another

The text that connects the heart of the individual worshiping lover of Jesus with this corporate reality is Ephesians 5:18–19: “Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart” (Ephesians 5:18–19). Notice those three dimensions: all of this singing is from “your heart,” all of it is “to the Lord,” and all of it is “addressing one another.”

It doesn’t matter whether the words of the song happen to be (the vertically directed) “We Come, O Christ, to You” or (the horizontally directed) “Come, Christians, Join to Sing.” Whether it is verbally directed to God or verbally directed to man, in both cases it is to God and in both cases it is addressing man because in corporate worship everybody is hearing every song, and God is attending to every song. And all the songs are sung from the heart — or they’re not worship. That is God’s design, as we rehearse for the everlasting corporate worship of the bride.

What is plain from those three dimensions in Ephesians 5:18–19 is that the birthplace and essence of worship is the individual human heart. That’s where the glory of Christ awakens the Christ-exalting affections that magnify his greatness and beauty and worth. Then from this furnace of Christ-exalting affections there flames up expressions in song to God and to people.

“God designed for Christ to have a worshiping bride and not just worshiping individuals.”

The corporate reality of the worshiping bride of Christ is brought into being by God’s combining these individual burning hearts of worship into a new reality — the worshiping bride of Christ — first in the foretastes of our gatherings and finally in the complete, perfected, eternal worship of the bride. This is the ultimate goal of God in creation.

Why? What is it about the corporate reality of the singing bride that makes her worship the ultimate end of God’s purpose, rather than simply white-hot individual worshipers? Why is it that God designed for individual hearts aflame with holy affections for God to combine into a new reality of corporate worship, the worshiping bride of Christ? I’ll give three biblical answers to that question, and they all have the effect of elevating the importance of united congregational worship as high as I know how to elevate it. It is the rehearsal and foretaste of the ultimate aim of creation.

1. Shared joy increases joy.

First, there is a pointer in 2 Corinthians 2:2–3, where Paul touches on the mystery of the union of souls as individual joy becomes shared joy. Paul says to the church, “If I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?” And: “I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all.”

In the body of Christ, where we are spiritually united in him, something profound happens in the experience of joy in God. It’s not merely that the corporate reality is the assembly of solitary joys. Paul said, “My joy is the joy of you all, and yours is mine. My joy is more because yours is mine, and yours is more because mine is yours.”

Therefore, the totality of Christ-exalting affection that comes into being especially in corporate worship is greater than the sum of individual affections. The worshiping bride is the goal of creation because the interpenetration of Christ-exalting joy is something new, something greater, something more God-glorifying than the assembled joy of individual worshiping hearts.

2. Diverse voices sing more beautiful harmonies.

Second, the unified harmony of diverse voices is more beautiful than the greatest sound of voices in unison. It is a glorious thing when a thousand voices, like a trumpet blast, sound in unison. But when those voices break into the unified diversity of harmony, something more glorious comes into being.

And this is not just a musical phenomenon. It is true in relation to countless diversities God is assembling into his church — across all time and all geography. Ethnic diversities, age diversities, male and female diversities, personality diversities, taste and preference diversities, voice quality diversities. (Think of voices like Bob Dylan and Pavarotti.)

In the unified diversity of the worshiping bride of Christ something more beautiful is created, and Christ is more glorified as the Creator and Redeemer and Beloved of that bride. That’s why the corporate worship of the bride is ultimate.

3. Diverse affections display Christ’s worth.

And third, God designed for Christ to have a worshiping bride and not just worshiping individuals, because the greatness and beauty and worth of the Leader is revealed by the extent of the diversity he is able to inspire and unify in one following, one body, one bride.

This is why the song of heaven in Revelation 5 calls attention to the worthiness of Christ — precisely because he ransomed so many diverse peoples and united them into one kingdom and one singing priesthood.

They sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll     and to open its seals,for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God     from every tribe and language and people and nation,and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,     and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9–10)

“When you gather in worship next Sunday, remember: you are a rehearsal of the end for which God made the world.”

The glory of Christ shines more brightly because he is the kind of Leader-Redeemer who holds together the allegiance and the affections of so many peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations in our worshiping kingdom.

The universe was created to display the worth of the Lamb, and in him the glory of God. When you gather in congregational worship next Sunday, remember: small or large, you are not just individual worshipers; you are a manifestation, a foretaste, a rehearsal of the end for which God made the world: the combining of individual souls aflame for God into something more — the greater joy, the greater harmony, the greater diverse affections of the worshiping bride of Christ — the goal of all things.

http://rss.desiringgod.org/link/10732/15290257/the-camaraderie-of-spiritual-conflict

Audio Transcript

We close the week with a rather technical question. It’s also an important question from a sharp listener to the podcast named Brent. “Pastor John, hello! Can you tell me why modern English translations translate ‘ktisis’ in 1 Peter 2:13 as ‘institution’ or ‘authority’ or ‘ordinance’? Every other occurrence is typically translated, as in the ESV, as ‘creation’ (sixteen times) or ‘creature’ (two other times). To me, based on the context, it seems as though we, as believers, are to submit ourselves, or to be subject for the Lord’s sake, to every human creature. For such a thing we have been freed by the finished work of Christ to do ‘good’ (1 Peter 2:15) and to serve them ‘as servants of God’ (1 Peter 2:16) as we ‘honor everyone’ (1 Peter 2:17). Even Paul’s text on submitting to authority in Romans 13:1–7 broadens quickly to a discussion of how we relate to all people (Romans 13:8). So is Peter’s ‘ktisis’ mistranslated? Or am I missing a nuance here?”

I think Brent is basically right here in drawing our attention to the way Peter unfolds the act of subjection in 1 Peter 2:13 in the acts of doing good (1 Peter 2:15), the act of serving (1 Peter 2:16), and the act of honoring (1 Peter 2:17). I think that’s a really sharp contextual observation to draw those four things together: subjection, doing good, serving, honoring. So let me step back and see whether there are other considerations that might affect how we understand how we translate the word ktisis — or “creation” or “institution,” as it’s translated in so many modern versions.

Subject to Everyone?

The ESV, like most English versions, translates 1 Peter 2:13–14, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good.” Now, that term “human institution” Brent is saying is literally “human creation.” And that’s right — it is. And that’s the most literal translation of it. So, the translation would then be, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human creation.”

Now, before we can even ponder whether that’s right or not, we have to ask what it means, because it’s an ambiguous phrase, isn’t it? It might mean “things created by humans” — so a human creation might be a government or laws that humans have created. Or the phrase “human creation” might mean “humans created by God” — so human beings are God’s human creation. So, 1 Peter 2:13 might mean, “Be subject to whatever man creates,” or “Be subject to the persons that God creates.” Which is it? And I think the answer, if you just take those two questions, would be pretty clear from the use of the word create and creation, the verb and the noun, throughout the New Testament.

Thirty-nine times — I looked them all up — the New Testament uses this word create or creation. And without exception, they refer to God’s act. Never in the New Testament does creation or create refer to something man has made or man does. So, I think it would be highly unlikely that the term “human creation” in 1 Peter 2:13 would refer to something that humans create. Rather, the term very likely means human creation in the sense of humans that God creates. Human beings are God’s human creation.

Now, that in fact is the way Brent in his question is understanding it. And he’s wondering, Why shouldn’t it be translated, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human creation,” or more clearly, “every human creature” — that is, persons created by God. Why isn’t verse 13 to be understood as calling for a kind of submission to all people, all human beings?

Two Pointers to ‘Institution’

Now, whether we’re going to be sympathetic to that possible translation — namely, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human creature” — is going to depend on two things.

First, do we believe that the word “be subject” (hypotagēte in Greek) can mean anything less than “obey” — maybe more, but not less? If we think that this word “be subject” always involves the idea of obedience, then we won’t be able to say with Peter’s intention that we should be subject to every human person, because many humans would instruct us to do sinful things that we certainly should not obey.

And I think it’s fair to say that’s the judgment of most biblical scholars — namely, that being subject does involve the idea of obedience. That’s the first thing that will affect how we translate this.

The second factor that leads people away from translating verse 13 as “Be subject to every human creature” is that the immediate application and perhaps limitation that Peter puts on it is this: he continues, “whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him” (1 Peter 2:13–14). So, the argument is that, since Peter is applying subjection to governors and emperors, he doesn’t mean it to apply to all human creatures, but only to those whom God has created to have his appointed authority (as, for example, is clearer in Romans 13:1–4).

Now those two arguments are strong enough to incline me, and most others, not to take issue with the common translation, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution” (1 Peter 2:13).

Subject to All in Honor

But like I said at the beginning, Brent is onto something that we really should take seriously because even if it might not be Peter’s primary intention here, it seems to be his and Paul’s understanding of the Christian life to say that there is a sense in which we are to be subject to all people — not in the sense of obeying, but in the sense of serving. That is, be subject in the sense of humbling yourself, and going down low (sub-ject), and getting under another person, and doing all you can to lift them up into truth and righteousness and everlasting joy.

“There is a sense in which we are to be subject to all people — not in the sense of obeying, but in the sense of serving.”

Now, Peter seems to go in this direction in verse 15 when he grounds the submission to every human creature or institution by saying, “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people” (1 Peter 2:15). And this idea of doing good turns up again and again and again in 1 Peter. It’s one of his most common and distinctive phrases. It turns up over and over as a general way of relating to all people, not just to those in authority.

And then, even more amazing, Peter says in verse 17, “Honor everyone” (1 Peter 2:17). And in a sense, it’s just as radical to say “honor every human creature” as it is to say “be subject to every human creature,” because certainly there are dishonorable humans just as there are humans we should not obey. So, if there is a way to honor dishonorable humans, then there may be a way to be subject to humans that should not be obeyed.

Then in the next paragraph, verse 18, Peter tells slaves to “be subject to their masters” (1 Peter 2:18). And then in the next paragraph, 1 Peter 3:1, he tells wives, “Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands.” And then, to our surprise — my surprise, anyway — he says in the next paragraph, 1 Peter 3:7, “Likewise [that’s the surprising word], husbands . . .” And then instead of saying, “Be subject to your wives,” which he doesn’t say, he says, “Live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life.”

So, he’s not going to say that the role of the wife and the husband are interchangeable in terms of authority and submission. But he is going to say, just like he did back in 1 Peter 2:17 (where it says, “Honor everyone”), that husbands are to honor their wives. And he introduces this command with “likewise” as if it is a kind of repetition of the commands for submission that he’s been giving to us in our relation to government, relation to masters, and relation to husbands.

“Christians, following the example of the humble, sacrificial Christ, should be subject for the Lord’s sake to all.”

And then add to this that Paul says we are to “do good to everyone” (Galatians 6:10), and that we are to be subject to each other (Ephesians 5:21), and that we should “count others more significant” than ourselves in the sense of becoming their servants (Philippians 2:3).

Going Low to Lift Up

In all those pointers, I think, in 1 Peter and Paul, I would say that Brent is onto something when he draws our attention to the fact that there is a sense in which Christians, following the example of the humble, sacrificial, suffering Christ, should be subject for the Lord’s sake to all people — in the sense, not of obeying, but of desiring earnestly to go low and to do what we can to lift them up into the truth, and into faith, and into righteousness, and into everlasting joy.

So, I think we should give Brent the benefit of the doubt here and say that’s pretty sharp. And we ought to really consider that possibility.